


The End......or?

by Lionessinthedark



Series: Star Trek into darkness.....a bit different [17]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Death, Khan is not a bad guy after all, M/M, Post-Star Trek: Into Darkness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-30
Updated: 2015-07-30
Packaged: 2018-04-12 03:46:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4464263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lionessinthedark/pseuds/Lionessinthedark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Winter is near.....they can't fight during winter. Problems need solutions......Krell learns something new. Everything is going according to Khan's planning...and then......</p><p> </p><p>When they speak Klingonese it would be in italics.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter one

As Khan, Krell and the soldiers found it increasingly difficult to beat the Emperor’s soldiers and as the winter came nearer Krell asked for Khan’s advice. Right now they had settled down in a big cave and were relatively safe and warm. 

But when the real winter came, the place would be too cold. 

Krell explained: _“The emperor’s soldiers normally would settle down in villages for the winter if they didn’t have time to return to their tenement houses. But forcing ourselves upon the villagers would be a very bad idea right know when I’ve got a nice reputation. So what is your advice?”_

_“Well. First and foremost....we do not fight in the winter. Back on Earth we had at least two dimwits who thought they could beat the Russian winter. First Napoleon and then about 100 years later Hitler who sent his soldiers towards the Russian army in summer-uniforms. Second.....we’ll have to behave differently from your father’s soldiers. I suppose they took all the villagers food and sort of raped the women?”_

_“It is the usual way, yes. But I find it difficult to see how we can avoid eating their food....and my men have needs......if we are not fighting......”_

_“Yes I understand....when we are not living on the edge any longer, other needs sets in”, said Khan and continued:“But there are solutions.....hence my old phrase: if it is liquid then drink it...and so on. Water will be no problem. There are lakes and wells and if we distribute ourselves...about 20 man pr. village....we would not be such a burden. Regarding the food. I suppose that you’ll be able to promise them payment later....and in that case they have the possibility to eat their seed-corn as well if they can buy some, at another market when spring sets in. At that time you should be on the throne._

_There are forests’ around the villages.....there is plenty of food to be obtained in forests’ in a climate like this. I know there are animals like the squirrels on Earth. They stash nuts and we can find their stocks if we know where to look. We can fish in the lakes. There are roots in the ground and from water-plants...they can be eaten too. And we can hunt and even eat the meat from the carnivores like the sabre-tooth bear if we are careful with the preparations. This is not the Ketha-province....this place is more fertile...even in the winter and I’ll teach you and your men and the villagers.”_

_“But what about their...hm.....needs?”_ asked Krell.

But Khan just smiled and asked in return: _“Do you have any cultural barriers against men having sex with men?”_

Krell looked at Khan a bit bewildered: _“Cultural barriers?...Hm....it is not common, but we do not behead people if they are like that. It is not seen upon with joy.....as the bottom part is looked upon as weak and not a proper soldier. There is an amount of loosing honour in it....especially being the receiving part....so I think you could say that there are cultural barriers. But no one would be killed because of that.”_

Khan explained: _“Hm....I would have thought....being such a warrior culture that you might have developed something like two of the biggest warrior cultures had back on Earth. In the ancient Greece...especially between the Spartans....the love between two men was regarded as the true love.....between “brothers in arms”. They had wives but it was only to make children._

 _Later it became shameful and in the middle ages men were burned like witches in a fire and their souls were certain to burn in hell forever and even later than that in a time where women were allowed to be educated and vote, one of the biggest mathematicians, who broke the enemies code and thus won the war and was the father of computers...or “thinking machines”, Alan Thuring, was persecuted and condemned and chemical castrated and committed suicide because of that.”_

Krell looked at Khan but with a smile: _“And you still think that we should be a part of the Federation?!”_

Khan smiled back: _“I do...it is more than 300 years ago....and they were nice enough to pardon him more than 50 years after his death! Well back to the topic.....if you and I did engage in sex with each other, would your men be repelled or would they accept it? I wouldn’t mind being the receiving part and I do not think that your men in that case would look upon me as weak”_ Khan said with a smirk. 

Krell looked a bit disturbed: _“Hm...there have been ...occasions where Klingons have...hm.....raped human men to humiliate them and....we are apparently so......well endowed....that we harm them....I have no wish of harming you!”_

 _“My dear Krell....I’m not easily harmed and believe me. You have nothing compared to what a Vulcan can exhibit when he is in Pon Farr.....and that was good!.......”_

The last phrase was almost said with a purr and that made Krell look at Khan. 

Khan laughed: _“It is a question of preparation and believe me.....if you are anatomical organized like Vulcan and Human males the point of pleasure is up your arse. I think that the Gods who made Humans and Vulcans and Klingons had a weird sense of humour when they put males’ G-spot several centimetres up their arses. Thank god I and you and the Vulcans are organized similar to each other: we shit in neat little packages. I think it is an adaptation to a harsh climate. So it is easier for us to be gay. Always clean! Believe me...it is the bottom that gets the most pleasure and I volunteer gladly! But I wonder.....how do you have sex with your women. No licking? No blowjobs?”_

Krell looked at Khan: _“I really do not know what you are talking about?”_

 _“Oh my...I better settle down her on Qo’noS as a sexual adviser when you are on the throne. Well in that case you are in for a treat as well!”_

Krell now looked at Khan and now it was him smiling: “ _Well...I suppose a hole is a hole and you are not exactly ugly even if you are rather pale and have no ridges on your skull but how do we remove the cultural barrier?”_

 _“Leave that to me”_ said Khan.  



	2. Chapter 2

Khan decided that he needed to exercise...his excuse was that being augmented he couldn’t just sit down and be idle.

He undressed and wore only his loincloth and he had asked Krell to sit down in a short distance from the others and observe.

And then he started.....not only did he show of his body and his strength....something that the soldiers would appreciate..... but he turned up his pheromones and when he thought that he had displayed himself enough to arouse the soldiers, he returned to Krell and said:

_“Look at them...if I had stayed much longer they would have raped me!”_

Krell said in a strange voice: _“And what make you think that you are safe by me?”_

Khan removed his loincloth and stood there in all his glory....his perfect body that even if he was not Klingon still was universally appealing. The golden ratio was a perfect sight all over the galaxy even if Khan thought that he wouldn’t have a chance by the really weird species in the Galaxy like the Banderschnatchers or the Squids.

And then he knelt down on his knees and hands and turned his head and looked at Krell:

_“I have prepared myself before I started to exercise. Remove the plug and insert your own cock. Know that you can’t rape one who is willing...and I’m so horny right now. I’m not unaffected by my own pheromones and I think you should give your men a show!”_

________________________

It turned out that Khan’s pheromones were rather efficient and affected the Klingons too and after he had shown...on a very cooperative Krell.... what a blow job was, how nice it was to have ones nipples touched and that rimming alone could make a male ejaculate and where exactly the G-spot was, the soldiers didn’t mind spending another two days in the cave before they would seek shelter in 10 different villages.

Khan and Krell had contacted the mayor of the biggest village and had asked him if he would tell the mayors of the other villages that they had nothing to fear from Krell’s soldiers.

Again Khan found it very peculiar that a race that had space-ships still would use couriers on horses to send messages from villages to villages.

_“You do have to do something....no...a lot..... regarding schools, roads and communication when you become the emperor”_ said Khan.

_“I know”_ answered Krell who actually had not known how underdeveloped the common citizen or peasant lifestyle was. On the other hand...those communities were practical self-sufficient and could continue their lifestyle even if a lot changed around them.

_____________________________

Khan used the winter in the village to educate Krell. To tell him everything he knew about history and human errors and development. How to be an excellent ruler and about democracy. And Krell listened and learned.

Khan, Krell and the soldiers hunted for food, searched for the pancurs’ (a squirrel-like animal) stashed nuts and enjoyed each other’s company in more than one way!

____________________________________

In the early spring all 225 soldiers left the villages. The stay had been pleasant for both parties and the mayors of the villages had promised that they would send help....young and strong and well-armed men if it became necessary.

Khan had taught them so much about food-gathering in the winter, so many methods they didn’t know of and so many ways to preserve food that they were sure they had never had so full pantries and storerooms after a long winter ever before.

_________________________

One last effort...not a big battle but several small encounters.

By that time Krell had already met and conquered and killed 5 of his brothers and their followers, but the last one remained.

Unfortunately the cleverest of them all....and then his father.

Kahn would together with a small group of men make a decoy in another part of the First City......and they parted.

Krell succeeded with his plans as the decoy bought them time and he managed to kill both his brother and his father in the Palace.

They refused to surrender even if Krell offered that possibility and they were killed in the audience hall together with his father’s last loyal soldiers.....and Krell was removing the signet-ring from his father’s dead hand as one of his men, L’ark, came running.... _”They caught the decoy-patrol 10 days ago. It was what bought us time but....Khan is....your father ordered......” ___


	3. Chapter 3

Krell ran through the corridors in his fathers....no HIS palace. He feared that he would be too late. To conquer the last part of the city had been more difficult than anticipated......even if Khan’s actions had made a positive outcome more plausible.

But Krell feared that Khan had paid the price....that he had ended his life in the Emperor’s dungeons.

And it was faster just to run than to try to get a communication through these old walls.

He came to a halt as he reached the iron-gate.

The guards there tried to stop him until they saw his ring and then they knelt down.

_“Stop this nonsense and open the gate instead”_ Krell almost yelled.

As he ran down the next corridor the smell got worse...blood.....and something else. How long had Khan been down here.....10 days had L’ark said? Would he still be alive?

__________________

The “thing” on the table was barely alive......and nearly unrecognisable as Khan....until he opened his eyes. Even at the threshold of death, he recognised Krell and tried to speak. His hands and arms up to the elbows and his feet and legs up till mid-thighs were black, rotting flesh.

His body had tried to preserve the rest of him...keeping him alive by letting go of dispensable limbs, that would be able to re-grow. But in vain. He was dying....the torturers hadn’t caused him so much pain....even though the old emperor had ordered it.

They had just kept Khan’s veins open and drained him for unbelievable amounts of blood.

Not allowing the wounds to close. And Khan’s body had fought the draining, but they had been more efficient than Marcus’ men back then......and had emptied every resource Khan had had.

And even if Krell had yelled at the men and ordered the doctors to come down into the dungeons, bringing every ounce of artificial blood they had...they came too late. Krell had to hear Khan’s last rasping words and had to watch the man who had become his best friend just close his eyes and die.....

____________________

Krell rose to his feet and watched the trembling torturers. They knew what would happen to them......never had a new emperor allowed torturers to outlive their victims if the victims had been friends or soldiers of the winning part.

But Krell surprised them remembering some of Khan’s last words..... _”Forgive them. Remember!”_ and Krell said:

_“You are now going to take care of every single one of your victims._

_If they can’t see, you’ll be their eyes._

_If they can’t walk, you’ll be their legs._

_All the knowledge....all the skills, you have used to harm them....you will have to use them to cure them as much as they can be cured._

_You’ll have to make them trust you again. You’ll make atonement for every pain you have inflicted, every wound you have made._

_If some of them die....I’ll tell you that every death will be scrutinized and if there is the smallest suspicion that you have precipitated their deaths, you will follow them!_

_Have I made myself clear?_

And he had....

He knew that there could be just a very tiny chance that Khan’s body somehow still would be able to return to life, so he had ordered the torturers and the doctors to freeze him.

The Klingon knew about cryo-sleep as well and had a few devises in case someone got so wounded that they would not reach the medical facilities in time. They were not as advanced as the Federation’s, but they were sufficient.

Krell had carried the dead body of Khan himself. The doctors had amputated the dead, black limbs knowing all too well that the dead tissue, if left connected to the body, would poison the rest of the body diminishing the ever so tiny chance of survival.

Without legs and arms Khan’s body didn’t weigh much and the doctors had been ordered to preserve the limbs in case Khan never would be alive again.

Krell had made a decision regarding Khan....if the Federation would allow it.

Krell closed the lid of the freeze-coffin and with a last glance at Khan’s surprisingly peaceful looking face, Krell turned around and went to the huge audience hall and tried to remember how to use the Starfleet communicator Khan had given him, before they parted more than 10 days ago.

_____________________

“This is Prince.....no.....”Emperor” Krell from the palace in the First City. I would like to talk to the captain of USS Enterprise...James Tiberius Kirk” said Krell in Standard.

And then he waited...

The answer came back after 10 minutes:

“Captain Kirk here. I suppose you’ve got Khan. What are you conditions?”

“Captain...I’m not sure I understand what you mean. Conditions regarding what?”

“For your release of Khan! I have heard that a lot had happened in the Empire and rumours had told....rightfully I can hear now.....that you are the new Emperor. I therefore assume that Khan can be released somehow and that you have conditions regarding that. A peace-negotiation? Ransom.....?”

“Oh....no....nothing like that. Ermm...He had not been hold hostage in anyway.....but.....ermm....this is difficult. He helped me become the new Emperor......he left the Enterprise together with me....voluntarily......because....well.....because he trusted me and wanted to help me make my dream come true. To be the new Emperor and make peace with the Federation and....”

Spock’s voice came in: “And it can turn out to be a bit difficult if you impede his return to us!”

“Oh my......believe me. There is nothing I would wish more than make him able to return to you. But I can’t! He told me to say to you that you would trust me if I said that I would allow you, Commander Spock, to perform a mind-meld with me! And that I should mention that he and I had a bond similar to yours.....a sort of...and then he used a Vulcan word: “T’hy’las.”

“You are talking about him in “past tense”....why?”, asked Jim now deeply worried.

And Krell got rather formal: “I’m sorry to inform you that Khan died only 6 hours ago...”

And then Krell’s emotions broke through: “I....I....came too late. My father’s torturers had almost succeeded in killing him. We parted 10 days ago and...and the idea was that he and some of my men should make a distraction. But they got caught......and my father ordered Khan tortured and killed.

I can tell you that they didn’t exactly obey my father in that. They just killed him! I came too late.....our doctors couldn’t do anything against his big blood loss and he expired in my arms on the floor.....”

Silence..... Now it was Bones’ voice: “He died in your arms......but what have you done to him afterwards?”

Krell explained: “I have taken care that his body was frozen immediately after he died in my arms. I know that there could be just a remote chance that he could come to life again. I’ve seen it before....but...”

And then Bones, Jim and Spock asked if it was safe for them to be beamed down. That what made them believe Krell was that he mentioned “the bond” that Spock.......and Jim.....had shared with Khan.

___________________

As soon as the flicker around Bones and Spock’s bodies had died out....Jim had to stay back on the Enterprise.....Bones ordered to be shown to Khan’s body and Krell’s guards were ordered to help him and Krell and Spock sat down on the floor facing each other.

Spock asked permission before he touched Krell’s head and Krell moved his hands to adjust Spock’s grip:

“Khan told me that there were small differences and as he had done it to me at a few occasions, I know where you should put your hands” he said.

Both men closed their eyes and both Spock and Krell thought of the chant: “"My mind to your mind, my thoughts to your thoughts”......and they both felt the connection.

Spock opened his eyes: “I would have calculated this probability....to mind meld with the Klingon Emperor..... to be close to null. I can see now that I can trust you!”

And Krell just pointed at the corridor where Bones had disappeared and said: “And he trusted me even without a mind meld?!”

Spock’s mouth curled a bit upwards: “I would consider Bones’ actions right now to be just as reckless as my captain’s actions usually are!”

And then both men hurried down the corridors following Bones and Krell’s guards.

The mind meld had taken less than 30 seconds. It was enough to ensure Spock that Krell could be trusted and that he had spoken the truth.

When Krell and Spock entered the room where Khan’s body was contained, the doctors were about to thaw his body. Spock looked in horror as he saw the torso without limbs and turned towards Krell: “I thought you said that they didn’t torture him?!”

Krell just looked at Khan’s dead body: “They didn’t. My doctors amputated the limbs because they were dead and already rotting. They would have poisoned his body if they had stayed connected. His body had tried to preserve his life by cutting off blood supply to dispensable body parts”

He lifted his eyes and looked at Bones: “Please tell me that I did the right thing!”

Bones looked at him and at the readings from the tricorder: “You did. It would increase his chances. I can’t say for sure if he is dead or not....not right now...It is too soon. We’ll have to thaw him carefully...and I would like to do the rest on the Enterprise, if you don’t mind?”

“No..it is OK. But you’ll let me know, right? And I suppose I’ll have to talk to James Kirk too or someone else from the Federation, regarding peace-negotiations. I meant it when I said that we want to be a part of the Federation.”

__________________________

In the med-bay about 10 hours later Bones had to face the fact that Khan Noonien Singh indeed was dead.

He had Khan’s readings from the last time Khan had been close...and at that time there had been something....a small ping on the readings already after 4 hours. But now Khan had been gone for 16 hours.

Rigor Mortis had set in and livors were to be seen. And the smell of Khan’s body that always had been pleasant even if he was severely injured had turned into something fouler.

All three signs had been absent the other times Khan apparently had been dead.

Bones turned away from Khan’s body. His eyes were moist......and he made a note on Khan’s papers:

“Khan Noonien Singh, Star Ship Commander. Time of death 2264.81; ship time 01.20.45”as he choose that exactly point of time only a few minutes ago, where he realised that Khan indeed was dead.

He contacted Spock who was on Gamma-shift on the bridge right now.

“I’m sorry to inform you that there has been no change what so ever in Khan’s condition and that his body now shows signs of decomposition: rigor mortis, livos and smell! I’m freezing his dead body now!”

Spock answered: “I understand. I’ll inform the captain and I’ll contact emperor Krell as promised. And Bones........I could have told you about 5 hours ago that Khan had left his body. It was only an empty shell as I touched his head. The other times there were always....something. Like an ember.”

And Bones answered: “I know...but I had to be totally sure!”

“I understand”

___________________________

Jim looked a bit lost as he together with Bones, Spock, Uhura, Chekov and Scotty saw the box with the remnants of Khan being beamed down on Qo’noS again.

Emperor Krell had told them about using his father’s huge mausoleum for Khan instead.

Krell’s father’s and his brother’s dead bodies were buried somewhere secret in the Empire. Krell wasn’t totally sure that his father or brothers did not have any secret followers in his huge empire, but he hoped that his actions towards former enemies and his father’s soldiers would have gained him followers instead of opponents.

He had indeed reacted in a very different way than former Emperors, starting with the torturers who had killed Khan. They were now very busy trying to “reconstruct” their former victims and would be busy doing that for the rest of their lives.

The captain and the officers of USS Enterprise had understood why Krell wanted to honour Kahn and had accepted that Khan was to be put in that mausoleum. The doctors had made a tremendous effort in making Khan into a nice corpse by embalming his body and preserve as much as possible of his arms and legs.

Khan’s body was nicely dressed in the golden armour that had been made for Krells’ father and was waiting for the funeral. It was going to be quite a big event......but not for now. It’ll have to wait until all the dignitaries could be there.....and right now everybody was busy incorporating the Empire in the Federation.

______________________

Somewhere in the Palace Krell looked at Khan’s embalmed body. Only Khan’s face was to be seen. Everything else was covered in the golden armour. And right so.......Khan’s arms and legs were nearly just bones, but they were there....and that was the most important thing.

“Irrational” thought Krell: “it doesn’t make any difference.....he is dead and couldn’t care less!”

Krell turned around and walked away....

**Author's Note:**

> Note: I’m not a Trekkie and I’m not sure I’ve got the different races, Empires, Dominions and Federations correct. Not even how they are placed in the Galaxy versus each other.  
> All the stories in my series take place in the Star Trek universe and are in chronological order....in “the alternate reality” and “Post Star Trek into Darkness”, except from the first 2 stories and the main point is that Khan Noonien Singh is not a bad guy after all...or is he? Are there hidden agendas somewhere?  
> Khan’s background story differs from the canon, though.  
> And of course I do not own the characters. They belong to Roddenberry in the first place and Paramount in the second.  
> English is not my native tongue so I excuse if there are failures.


End file.
